in that time period passed laws. i remember i was a kid here in washington, my father was secretary of the interior, the wilderness law, clean water act, clean air act, we set up the environmental protection agency. i mean, these were big laws, big, bold laws that were dealing with our problem. so once again, glory days of the senate. and i -- i -- i think we have that potential as i see the new senators coming in, the folks that were elected with us, the senators that have arrived in the last five or ten years. i think we have the ability to respond in a big, bold way to the crises that face us. and i know senator merkley, you came here a young man with senator hatfield i believe and you saw a different senate. maybe you could talk about that and we don't want to stay, i know we're going to a caucus and we have our generous chair here, so we don't want to keep her up there too long, our presiding officer. anyway, senator merkley, i yield. mr. merkley: i think my colleague from new mexico is absolutely right in pointing out there were periods when the senate really worked to address